brick work behind fireplace needs repairing, what are my options?

[iwantavuvezela]

Our woodburner in our sitting room, is in front of a brick recess. Due to the age of the bricks, and previous fireplace and now our woodburner the bricks have been crumbling.

I want to repair this before winter starts.

It seems my options are to find someone to remove (?) and then replace the bricks. Not sure how this would work or expense involved

Or

Plaster over existing bricks and paint with heat resistant paint. This seems the easier option, although keeping the brickwork would look better

If anyone has done this I would love to know your thoughts on what you did and what worked for you.

Thanks

I wanted exposed bricks behind my woodburner, but no one would let me, as they were in bad shape

We ended up plaster boarding (special fireproof board) behind and around the burner. It looks fab, but not what I'd hoped for.

You may find its part of the chimney structure and so can't really be fiddled with? Best advice - get a builder or brickie out to look at it and see if they can do anything about it.

Thanks for that puffeylovett. I will keep the player boarding in mind and get a bricklayer in to have a look.

ordinary plaster, and plasterboard, breaks down when very hot. Its composition relies on water content, if this is driven off by heat, it turns to powder.

Thanks for that pigletjohn' what would you recommend then? Stay with bricks, or will the fireproof plaster work?

I'd go for clay bricks, they withstand enormous heat. I don't know why yours are failing, frost is the usual cause of brick damage but won't apply here. Some bricks contain fragments of chalk or limestone and will blow little craters out. There might be a different mortar mix for fireplaces. Start by asking your chimneysweep. As well as understanding the science of chimneys, she will know local people who repair and line them, and probably fireback repairs too. Some chimneysweeps also do repairs.

Thanks for that, we do have good local chimneys weeps so will start there. I think our bricks are just very old ! Will let you know how I get on!

iwant please let me know how you get on as I have exactly the same issue. Why I didn't think to sort the brick work out before we had the stove fitted I don't know!

Wil do pizza,putting out some feelers for someone who could do this .